Gulfport to Vicksburg - Gulf Coast and Mississippi

We depart from Gulfport-Biloxi Intl. (KGPT), Mississippi. We stay ashore and head west to reach Stennis Intl. (KHSA), Mississippi. We turn towards Lake Pontchartrain and land at Lakefront (KNEW), Louisiana. We stay in Louisiana until returning to Mississippi at the end of the flight. After departing Lakefront, we turn south and inspect the Crescent City Connection Bridges.

Next, we land at Armstrong New Orleans Intl. (KMSY). From now on we basically follow the Mississippi River north and land at Louisiana Regional (KREG). On the approach to runway 35, we see Donaldsonville at the river. The city was the capital of Louisiana from 1829 to 1831 and in 1868. Pierre C Landry was here the first African-American Mayor in the US.

We follow the river and reach Baton Rouge (KBTR). Our next landing will be at False River Regional (KHZR). 15 miles further north we make a touch-and-go at the Angola Airstrip (LA67). Next to this airstrip is the Louisiana State Penitentiary, a maximum-security prison farm in Louisiana operated by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. It is named "Angola" or "The Farm" after the former slave plantation that occupied this territory.

We continue along the Mississippi River and land at Hardy-Anders-Adams Co (KHEZ), Mississippi. We finish this flight at Vicksburg (KVKS). Vicksburg was built by French colonists in 1719. During the American Civil War, it was a key Confederate river-port, and its July 1863 surrender to Ulysses S. Grant, along with the concurrent Battle of Gettysburg, marked the war's turning point. After the war came the Reconstruction era and then a violent return to power by white supremacists and the Democratic Party in 1874 and 1875, including the Vicksburg massacre. Today, Vicksburg's population is majority African American. The city is home to three large installations of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, often involved in local flood control.

The is a flight of 260 miles with 9 landings (and 1 touch-and-go). We want to cruise at about 180 knots. I will probably try the Cessna C400 TT in 2024. Please fly what you like. The flight plans are here.  I included a link for a flight plan made with the MSFS 2024 planner. Please note that the non-airport waypoints are approximate. I achieved the best result with this flight plan. It was accurate and complete.

Recommended scenery:

New Orleans (KMSY) (2020 only!)

Natchez-Adams (KHEZ)

Gulfport-Biloxi (KGPT)

KGPT is available as payware from ORBX.

 

We try real weather. Please set your simulator for a 3 pm local departure.

 

Multiplayer Particulars:

Date and time: Sunday, February 16, 2025. 1700 UTC

Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: United States East server.

These flights are events posted at DigitalThemePark and use DTP's Teamspeak Channel for communication.

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Thanks, Gunter. This will be an enjoyable flight up the lower Mississippi. Two notes. First, the main airport of New Orleans, Louis Armstrong [KMSY], has a newly-opened (2019) terminal north of the main runway. The new terminal is very modern in its design and seems to be highly-rated by passengers. The old (1959) terminal remains as an empty shell with airport offices and eventually perhaps charter, cargo, and some General Aviation facilities. MSFS has ignored the change. Happily timot75 has produced a modest freeware Louis Armstrong New Orleans International [KMSY] with the new terminal depicted. (This is not a real “handcrafted” model but it does include the correct concourses and jetways.) The old terminal remains in use here, which is not correct. All things considered the timot75 rendition is a major improvement. (LVFR has an older payware version that also includes the new terminal.) Obviously, we do not NEED an accurate layout for our brief visit – but it nice to have a freeware option.

In addition, for fun, I’ve produced a Little Navmap flightplan from New Orleans [KNEW] to Baton Rouge [KBTR]. This is Gunter’s flightplan with a whole bunch of POIs marked so that those not familiar with New Orleans will get a sense of where the famous places lie. These are pretty-well represented in the MSFS photogrammetry. The included waypoints mark the French Quarter and Bourbon Street, the Superdome, Emeril’s (a nationally famous New Orleans restaurant), the Garden District neighborhood and Commander’s Palace (another more famous New Orleans restaurant), and Tulane University. In Baton Rouge you can note LSU (Louisiana State University) and its Tiger Stadium for football and then the iconic 34-storey Louisiana State Capitol building. This not for flying but instead just a handy way to map the geographic locations. (I do this because I was so pleased to see Commander’s Palace, where I’ve visited a handful of times in the last 40 years, is nicely depicted in its tropical turquoise blue just across the street from a New Orleans above-ground cemetery.)